Unexpected Israel

I had filmed four other documentaries in Israel before we even started planning the Christ Files. So you might be forgiven for thinking I would be getting pretty blasé about the features of a country that is smaller than most Australian states. But Lake Galilee persists in surprising me, the ruins of ancient cities continue to speak evocatively of Jesus' time and, frankly, no-one could have predicted the arrival of so many vultures " yes, you read that correctly.

We arrived in Israel after a much-delayed flight to confront the biggest challenge of any production unit " the weather. It had been sunny up until our arrival, but the clouds had closed in and the predictions were gloomy. Rain, more rain and the real chance of snow. This was no small feat for a country whose annual days of precipitation can usually be counted on two hands. Just like at home everyone was pointing the finger at "global warming', but I knew that it was this was God's way of reminding us that this project would be ultimately powered by prayer.

Our first location underlined the point. Arriving in Tiberias on the shores of Lake Galilee, we lost little time in heading to the base of Jesus' ministry in the north " Capernaum. The clouds were ominous but we were spared any down-pour. Israel's Ministry of Tourism had provided invaluable support in helping us gain access to the site for our cameras, but it appeared that a local official was prepared to throw a spanner in the works by insisting we remain behind barriers erected to contain the general public. I have never talked so fast and prayed so hard in my life, but by God's grace and a persistently friendly approach that left my cheeks aching from smiling, we were able to turn our sticking-point into a supporter. By the end of our negotiations our host, John Dickson, was given the sort of access to the ruin's of Peter's home town that I have never seen granted before.

From there we headed out on to the lake in a chartered boat. The idea was to film a fairly normal piece to camera with John describing Jesus' stomping grounds for the viewers. This, however, was when the weather really hit hard, a wind channelled by the surrounding hills whipping up the water so that the lake became full of white-capped waves. It necessitated a sudden change in the script so we could refer to the "sometimes stormy Sea of Galilee' but in the end it made for much more interesting watching. Happily, no-one had to fish the host out of the drink.

One of the most unlooked-for blessings of this particular stage of our journey was the news that Irish archaeologist, Professor Sean Freyne, would be in Galilee at the time of our trip. Professor Freyne is one of the world's most respected experts on Bible-land digs. His willingness to troop around with us for a day was a great gift. He put us on to a number of new sites that are filling in our picture of the world Jesus' inhabited, including the fortress town of Gamla in the nation's north. I was a little concerned to learn that Gamla was in the middle of that troubled district known as the Golan Heights. But I needn't have worried. The trip there was uneventful, except for a stop-off at an amazing museum, and the destination well worth the effort. I have seen a lot of locations in Israel in my time, but I am happy to say that Gamla is well and truly the most beautiful. The ruined town perches on a knife-edge hillside in the middle of a steep valley overlooking Lake Galilee. The green fields and soaring cliff-faces reminded me just how far short of reality my mental pictures of Israel could fall. And then, while we were filming, our guide suddenly excitedly pointed to the sky, drawing our attention to the arrival of a rare vulture that was known to nest in the area. This incredible creature, with a three metre wing-span, created the perfect picture as it soared on the thermals above the ruined city. You can imagine how grateful we became when it was slowly joined by seven other birds in the coming minutes. It's a scene I am unlikely to forget.

Professor Freyne then accompanied us down to Sepphoris, a town referred to as the "jewel of Galilee' in the first century AD. It was a wealthy, Romanised settlement that was only a few kilometres from where Jesus grew up and its development and expansion probably provided regular employment for his carpenter father. It was also likely to have informed Jesus' images of "those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury' (Luke 7:25).

So far we had managed to dodge the worst of the weather, but when we finally arrived in Jerusalem the local conditions began to seriously hamper our production. It had just snowed in Jerusalem and the skies were heavy and grey, rather than their usual pale blue. It was so cold that the owner of a donkey we'd hoped to rent seemed to think better of the opportunity and just stay in bed. Before long it seemed that our filming schedule would be in tatters by the end of the week. Like so many times before now, there was nothing to do but pray, trust and wait. We took a day off to coincide with the Sabbath and waited"

Sunday morning dawned bright and clear but when we arrived at our first location it was to discover that the Dead Sea Scrolls expert we had arranged to interview had forgotten about us completely and arranged a conflicting appointment. Had God forgotten us? Not at all. The aforementioned scholar was most embarrassed and invited us to his office where we met his guest " the world-renowned American author Professor James Charlesworth, who we had given up all hopes of involving in the Christ Files because we couldn't see the budget stretching to a trip to the United States. Would he also like to be interviewed for the series? Why not! Straight after that we received news that our donkey had turned up on the Mount of Olives. We drove across the city to find not only the missing mule but our blue skies as well.

This blog would stretch on for an eternity if I were to take the time to tell you about the location that fell through, resulting in an amazing Passover-in-the-park, the noisy bar mitzvah celebrations we were able to put on hold so we could film uninterrupted from the walls of Jerusalem, or our climbing of the cliffs above the ruined city of Qumran for the perfect (if precarious) stand-up location. The only thing I will add is that, in the case of the latter, I have never been so happy to see a host successfully come to the end of his lines :P

Suffice to say that God was as much a part of our crew as always. In fact, I don't think our director Allan would mind me saying that He was quite often in complete control of the production, and it always turned out the better for it. Israel was much safer than I expected, as well as being a fantastic "context-setter' for the life of Jesus. That is surely its true value " not a site for pilgrimage but an education for any Bible scholar which I can heartily recommended.

See you in Rome!